World's Worst Power Outages

India is not alone when it comes to massive power failures. Take a look...

__START__November 9, 1965

The Great Blackout shakes Americans' faith in the power system. A faulty substation relay darkens New York City and thousands of square miles of the U.S. northeast for about 14 hours. Power is out for 25 million people. It inspires the popular film, Where Were You When the Lights Went Out?

__PAGEBREAK__1. July 13, 1977

A lightning bolt knocks out electricity to about 8 million people in New York City. Power isn't fully restored until 25 hours later after widespread looting.

__PAGEBREAK__2. March 11, 1999

Lightning hits a power substation in Brazil's Sao Paulo state, leaving 97 million people without power for as long as five hours. An official says it is linked to transmission lines from the Itaipu dam.

__PAGEBREAK__3. Aug. 14, 2003

The worst U.S. blackout. Power line problems in the Midwest trigger a cascade of breakdowns that cut power to 50 million people in eight states and Canada, some for more than a day.

__PAGEBREAK__4. Sept. 28, 2003

A short in a power line in Switzerland leads to blackouts affecting 95 percent of Italy. Some 55 million people are without power for as long as 18 hours.

__PAGEBREAK__5. November 2006

A German power company switches off a high voltage line over a river to let a cruise ship pass. It triggers outages for 10 million people in Germany, France, Italy and Spain.

__PAGEBREAK__6. January-February 2008

Winter storms cause a nearly two-week blackout to about 4 million people around the central Chinese city of Chenzhou. Eleven technicians reportedly die trying to restore power.

__PAGEBREAK__7. Nov. 10, 2009

Storms near the Itaipu hydroelectric dam on the Paraguay-Brazil border are tentatively blamed for outages that cut power to as many as 60 million people in Brazil for two to three hours. The entire nation of Paraguay, population 7 million, is also briefly blacked out.

__PAGEBREAK__8. July 30, 2012

India's northern electricity grid fails for much of the day, leaving 370 million people without power.

__PAGEBREAK__9. July 31, 2012

Three power grids across half of India fail in what authorities call overdrawing of the system, leaving a record 620 million people without power for several hours and raising serious concerns about whether the country's outdated infrastructure can meet soaring demands.